Seismic Twitch

It’s weird how things take on a new significance after the death of someone really close. Today is the second Sunday since Thomas died. I’m not feeling the same sharpness of grief that I was just a week ago. I don’t randomly burst into tears much, not in public anyway. I still feel worst when I go to bed and he’s not there, with his Kobo, reading some book or other. I miss him something fierce.

My oldest brother, one who I rarely talked to (but liked) has been calling regularly. He called daily in the first days after Thomas died. He wanted to make sure that I didn’t feel bereft of family. He’s an odd duck. He’s sweet though.

Boy continues to be a stalwart source of support. He frequently walks by my desk (it’s in the dining room) just to reconnect with me. Sometimes he’s on his way to the kitchen, but more often than not, he just comes out to see me. While I’m sure it’s for his own well being that he does this, the side effect is that I get to do the same. He’s such a sweet young man.

I’m doing laundry for the first time in many years. Boy and Thomas took it over and all I would do is fold. Today, when going out for coffee I found a huge ice buildup in the driver’s side wheel well. I tried knocking it off by kicking at it (using the sole of my foot) but that wasn’t moving it. Boy tried, but alas, he used his toe and managed to hurt it quite badly. So now I’m doing laundry on my own. Boy made sure to give me careful instructions as to how much soap and softener to use…ah, shit forgot the dryer sheet…the washer was done so I started another load, as well. It looks like it’ll be a trip to the doctor for Boy about his toe, if for nothing else, to make sure that infection doesn’t set in as the toe did bleed.

I downloaded ebook (as .pdf files) of Oh My Gods!. There are two omnibus books spanning 7 years of online publication. I very much enjoyed the comic and was very disappointed when the artist ceased creating it. Then, when I found it was being published in the omnibus format I was elated, until I saw the price…$100 for a single hard copy of it. You can imagine how thrilled I was to find a much more affordable format at $10 each. When I can afford to pay the treeware copy I shall, but for now, the digital will do. I did give serious thought to printing it out. I have a laser printer and it wouldn’t be that expensive, but the first book is over 300 pages, so I changed my mind. I might change it again. I”m a luddite when it comes to comics and I prefer having a paper copy to read. Anyway, if you like reading comics, are pagan/gay/snark friendly, you’d probably like this comic. To any Christian friends out there, yes, it does make fun of Christians, but only the can’t-think-for-themselves-fundimentalist types with no sense of humour. It also makes fun of pagans, so it’s even…there’s even a Reiki “master” in the mix.

I need to get a Pro account of my flickr again. I let it lapse late last year because we had no money and I didn’t want to put that on an already nearly maxed credit card. I want to access all my photos again. I’ll leave Bran’s up until I download all his photos that are there. Then I’ll cancel his membership. A friend told me about how Facebook will hold an account open “in memorium”. The account won’t be able to update, add new friends and the usual things that one does with their own account, but the wall will be available for people to post onto. That’ll be a nice thing. I’ll also leave his Tumblr account open. A few people have written of how they go there just to be with him again. If they find comfort in that, then who am I to deny them that?

One thing I am going to ask people to do, especially the men, is to take up his mantle of fighting against violence toward women and the racism that is woven deeply into our society. He was profoundly offended at the concept that, as a man, he was incapable of controlling himself when confronted with a woman who was dressed in certain ways, or said certain things. He was equally offended by the fact that he held a privileged position in society, not by merit, but by simply being a white male. Patrick Stewart is doing it, Thomas did it. The only difference between the two men is that Patrick has the media clout. Each man experienced the violence of their fathers. Each man took a stand against that kind of violence. Patrick has started Ring the Bell, a place to promise to help end violence against women, please, take some time out to make your promise, read the promises of other men, and take action yourself. I know that most men don’t think that beating and raping women is a good thing, but we do need more men to take up the cause, speak out, and act against the mindset that men can’t help themselves. And yes, this does include going on the slut walks and the take back the night walks. Please. For your daughters, your nieces, aunts, mothers, friends….please.

The inheritance came through last week. This means that we are able to afford certain things that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Bran and I now each have our own vehicles. In total we spent more than we probably should have, but each auto is only 3 years old, they’re both covered by 2 year warranty that covers nearly everything that could bork out, such as the electricals, drive train, motor, and nearly everything else mechanical. Being used cars that is a good thing. Bran got a red truck.

I got a silver SUV (gets reasonably good gas mileage – better than the Volvo did). It was taken back into the shop to get a bit of body work done, detailed and have a sun glasses visor replaced. It was taken in on Tuesday for the work and I got it back today. I’m pleased as punch with it. It’s easy to drive, quite manoeuvrable. I like how I fit in the driver seat. The signal lights turn off automatically. It’s an automatic so no more shifting gears (though for the first couple of days I was automatically trying to find that nasty clutch – hit the emergency brake once or twice because of that). It has tilt steering so I can get in and out comfortably and have the wheel set at where it’s comfortable. I also don’t have to duck down to get into it, it’s just a slide across from a standing position. It’s a scary thing as previous to my first ever all-my-own vehicle is that I’m enjoying driving. That took Boy and Bran by surprise. Me too, when it comes to that.

Boy doesn’t like driving at all. He didn’t want an auto of his own. We are requiring him to get his driver’s license. He has his learner’s right now. Instead of a car he chose to get a very zoomy, very fast computer. He’s extremely happy with it. It’s a desk top beast that sits on his end table in the living room. They keyboard mouse and flat panel monitor sit on a table in front of his chair. Boy also got a new DS so I got his old one. This one has a hinge that actually works. Gotta love hand-me-overs.

I got a cheapo purse too. It was only $20. I desperately needed something to replace my old purse that was falling apart. The new one is made entirely of vinyl so it gets mighty crispy and stiff in the cold. It’ll get replaced when I find a leather one I like enough. I’ll hang onto this one as a spare. It also doesn’t have long enough shoulder straps.

My shifts at work are still all over the place. Last week was the first time I had a steady week of regular shifts. This week I was supposed to work evenings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday then days on Tuesday and Thursday. That didn’t work out as planned. Our night shift person is sick so I worked most of my evening shift last night and then did the graveyard shift right after. I worked until nearly 7 and then walked home to spend a bit of time relaxing. Then I walked back to work again so that I could be there to relieve the counsellor who needed to go home at 9. By the time the shift was over my knees were seriously aching and I was ready to collapse into a coma of fatigue. I got a call this afternoon and she’s still sick so instead of relaxing and spending a leisurely night at home and having a short shift tomorrow evening, I’m covering her shift again from midnight to 8 am tomorrow. Happily I have my baby back so I don’t have to walk to work again. It’ also means that I get some nice overtime.

I reserved the hotel rooms we’ll need in May when we got to Edmonton for the Rammstein concert. It’s boy’s 19th birthday present. He and a friend are being treated to the concert and two nights in a hotel (they get their own room) as well as all meals paid for. Of course I’ll be paying for any incidentals that Boy will want in terms of shopping. I should have Bran make sure he takes cash to the concert (yes, he’s going too – with ear plugs to protect his hearing) for t-shirts and such that Boy is bound to want as memorabilia. While they’re at the concert I’m going to be relaxing at the hotel. The next day we’re hitting the West Edmonton Mall for shopping. I want to hit up Cotton Ginny as they don’t have one in Saskatchewan anymore at all. It’s a great place for fat women to get good quality, natural fibre clothes. I’ll probably get another purse, if I can find one I like.

As some of you may know, I’ve been making a stole for Bran to wear when he does hand fastings (pagan type weddings). It’s nearly done. The beading is complete, I’ve got most of it attached to a very long piece of canvas (9’5″ long to be more accurate). I put black ribbon around the whole thing except one end. I’ll be finishing that up this weekend. Then I will sew on wide black ribbon for the back to hide the threads and knots that tie the beads to the canvas and finish by the final sewing of the side ribbon to hide all ravelling edges. I’ll take a picture of it when I’m done. After that I’m making him moccasins to wear. They’ll have sheep skin insoles and be made of either cow or deer leather. One of the residents is willing to teach me how to make them and they’d be ideal for Bran’s feet. I might have to get a rubber sole put on them to ensure they last and to further protect his diabetic feet.

I start paying student loans back really soon. I may be able to arrange to have my loan frozen (where they don’t charge interest on it) so that everything I pay on it goes straight to the principle of the loan rather than the interest for 14 years. If that’s the case I can apply every 6 months to continue that for 5 years. That’ll mean I can pay a significant portion of the loan without being screwed by interest charges.

I’m watching Dog the Bounty Hunter. Seriously, what’s with the hair? Dog has a mullet with a Great white Shark Alfalfa thing happening in front and on top. Then two of his sons (or one of them) with that long rat tail thing. Beth’s hair is relatively normal though an unnatural shade of blonde. Her boobs! My Goddess, her bodacious tatas defy gravity! She also has shoes that can kill ants in the corners of room. If they curled up she’d have genie shoes.

It’s still winter here. I’m seriously tired of the snow. I’m not sick of the cold. I like the cold, but I’m seriously tired of the temperatures the thermostats have to be set at in the building at work to make sure that none of the pipes freeze and flood the building. I mean, if it’s a choice between the two I’ll take the tropical rain forest temperatures. I mean, I’ve already had to deal with two cold weather related floods (one a regular plumbing pipe, the other a frozen heating pipe) and I don’t want to have a repeat of those adventures. But speaking as a middle-aged, fat woman whose body temperature runs higher than most other human beings, those tropical rain forest temperatures suck donkey balls.

We will soon be looking to buy a house. We’re thinking of working with a mortgage broker as they do the work that we’d have to do by going to banks, comparing interest rates and mortgage amounts, etc. We’re trying to figure out if that would be worth the extra cost. It’s hard for the two of us to coordinate our off-work time together right now. Then it’ll be finding a real estate agent to organize house viewing and make an offer and buy a house. I want to do this while it’s still wintery outside as house prices tend to be lower in winter. Then we can give notice to our passive-aggressive landlord and get out of renting. Of course we’re getting an insured mortgage that would be automatically paid in the case of either Bran’s or my death. We’re too old to not go for that option. It’s a way of making sure that the other spouse (or Boy) will be sure to have a home after the other income is gone.

This week we heard of the death of Brian Jacques , the writer of our favourite books. He wrote the Redwall series that we’ve been reading since Boy was 3 years old. Our interest in the books began with the television with the animated production of Redwall. After watching and being charmed by the series we began purchasing the books. I used to read for an hour a night (this usually got one chapter read) each night between 7 and 8, just before Boy’s bedtime. We started the tradition with The Long Patrol and progressed through the series. I also read the Harry Potter series this way. We now own all the published works to date. Sadly there won’t be any more Redwall books. I heartily recommend the books to anyone, young and old, who likes adventure, engaging characters and a general good read. Like the Harry Potter series, these books have been read repeatedly by all of us through the years.

I have 4 new bras. They’re Wonder Bra 18 hour types. They’re very comfortable. I will be getting more at Cotton Ginny in Edmonton. Sure, this might be more than you wanted to know about me, but bras have become important in my life. I like being supported and having the appearance of being “perky”. I’ve never been “perky” so it’s a novel look.

That’s about it from here.

In the past two weeks I have been confirmed to go to Bowden and Drumheller institutions, then told I wasn’t going, then confirmed again. It’s official. I’m not going this year. It has nothing to do with money this time. In the past week we’ve had two staff quit without notice. I’m still going to Edmonton the week after next though.

I expected the one. She’s training with Corrections to become a Corrections Officer. That’s very intensive training. Splitting her attention would be, at best, difficult. Luckily we had new staff hired to work other shifts. However, last night another staff quit without notice. This means that we’re short staffed again. We filled her shift right away, but we’re still down one full time person. So I’ll be working evenings until we get someone trained to work opposite shifts to me. That’ll be at least two weeks. While I prefer evenings and it gives me more contact with the residents (though I’m not sure some of them like that) I’d like to think that there was some degree of regard for me and other coworkers. Apparently I was wrong. This doesn’t just screw the bosses, it screws me and other staff. The past two weeks have had me change from days to evenings to days again to get shifts covered. That’s hard on a 50 year old body.

My cold. Oh, my cold. Yeah, it’s hanging on. Most particularly my ears are still plugged. My hearing is better than it was, but I’m still missing a significant portion of my hearing. Since it’s now 2 weeks since the initial plugging up (landing in Saskatoon) it’s time I see a doctor to make sure there’s no infection and see if I can get some more potent decongestants to unplug my Eustachian tubes. I still sniffle and such, but that’s just the tag ends.

The weather here is stupid. We’ve gone from the deep freeze to near melting, back to the deep freeze and now back to hovering around 0C (32F). I can live with the cold. In fact, I prefer the cold. I dislike dealing with such large fluctuations. It doesn’t help me get rid of illnesses.

Bran’s been working. Did I tell you he got a job? He did. It’s a great relief to me to know that we have another fairly reliable source of income. Anyway his shift has been 1pm – 9 pm. This means that I’ve been walking either to or from work. The walk to work when it’s frigid cold is nice. When it’s warmer I end up all hot and sweaty from the walk. It always takes me a lot of time to cool down from that.

I have cable back. When we decided to disconnect Bran did a seasonal disconnect. That’s one of the advantages of living in the Great White North…snowbirds. You see there is a large segment of the population who go south for the winter. They don’t want to be paying re-connection fees every time they return home, so the phone company (that’s who provides our cable, phone and internet) offers a seasonal disconnection for those who travel in winter. So now I have A&E back. It needed some help (Bran had to call SaskTel to get instructions to have the box try and connect to the right whatchamacallit at SaskTel). I have murder and mayhem back. Right now I’m watching Man Hunters. I’ll be recording a whole lot of First 48s.

I finished the major beading of Bran’s stole. I have a few beads to replace as they broke when I was joining the ribbons together. I also have to weave in the tag ends of threads. Then I have to get about 4 metres of canvas and other things to put the beads on.. After that I’ll be making moccasins for Bran. I have plans for the top beading. It’s going to take an impressive amount of leather to make moccasins for his skis. One of the residents at work is going to teach me how to make them. I have to make a few changes because the seams have to be on the outside because I don’t want there to be ridges inside to cause rub sores. That’s a minor change though.

Bran got me a portable DVD player today. It’s a nice little beastie. It has a car lighter adapter that means I can watch movies while travelling. The picture quality is a bit lower than I expected but that’s ok. It’s not for all the time, just for work and travelling. I already tested it out and it works well.

Dad’s estate still hasn’t been settled. The lawyers sent out statements (two of them) that were incorrect. They also sent out releases. Apparently we’re waiting on the releases from my nieces for the final distribution. I don’t know what’s taking so long though. Even mail from California (where one niece lives) doesn’t take a month. I’m waiting on that to go house and car hunting.

Speaking of finances only on the not-so-good front, I got my notice from Canada Student Loans this week. They’re setting me up for a payment of nearly $900 a month for nearly 10 years. Oy! I’ll be contacting them to reduce that amount. Sure I know that means that I’ll be paying it off longer therefore paying more, but I don’t earn enough to allow me to pay that amount per month, even with Bran working.

Work is going to get crazy, stupid busy. Right now we have 20 residents. That’s a good number for a single staff to manage. Things are busy but not out of hand. Weekly reports can be done in a single shift. There’s a nice variety of people with differing challenges that makes a shift pass fairly quickly. However, in the next month or so we’re expecting up to 12 more (I don’t know if this includes the women we expect). I’ve never worked there when it’s been this busy. We’re going to be getting most of those (if they’re given day parole) because the other half-way house has only 1 bed available right now. I pity the cook. She’s going to have to cook for that many people. Hopefully not many have allergies.

I can’t think of much else to write about. It pretty much covers the gamut of events in the past week or so.

What have I been up to? Oddly enough, a fair bit. This is a long entry so get yourself a cup of tea. I’ll wait.

I got some seed beads to work on Bran’s handfast outfit thing I’m making for him. It’s like a priest’s stole but made of beads instead of embroidered cloth. I’m sure it’ll be quite a bit heavier too. Anyway, I picked up lovely red beads and some blue that are drop dead beautiful. It’ll all look really nice when I’m done.

Yesterday was a day of dishes and laundry. I got ALL the dishes done, the stove and counter tops all wiped off and thought about sweeping the floor. Yes, I thought about sweeping the floor. Alas, my back, after standing at the sink to do load after load of dishes, was in no fit shape to wield a broom. Some witch I am, right?

While I was doing that Bran and Boy were hip deep in laundry. Really, we hadn’t done all the laundry in a few weeks, just a couple 0h-I-Have-No-Shirts/Pants/Underwear loads that just did the necessities. It’s still not done yet, there are 3 more loads to go, but they made excellent progress in that. Not only did they do that, but I got the folding nearly done as well.

Boy also dried dishes and pumped up the bike tires. He was an enormous help to us. I just thought I’d put that out there as sometimes he feels under-/unappreciated. Without him the work would’ve taken much longer if it got completed at all.

Then today was an excellent workout. I did a full 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. I didn’t stop to drink water and when I drank I didn’t spill all over myself. I really have to get a bottle with a built in straw. It saves me the embarrassment of looking like a totally uncoordinated slob. I’m only a partially uncoordinated slob.

We also did work on our arms on the weights. I was in the Captain’s Chair and managed to get to 5 leg lifts before my shoulders gave out and I started drooping. We also did weight assisted chin ups (two different kinds) and dips. Then we worked on pecs on two machines and the other of my favourite machines but I don’t remember what it works.

Then it was home to shower (eventually I did) and get ready to go out for sushi with friends. It was wonderful connecting with them again. They’re both good people with good hearts and fabulous senses of humour.

My shower was satisfying. This past week I’ve been dealing with a bit of an emotional dip. Ok, so more than a dip. I tanked earlier in the week and I haven’t recovered from it yet. So my mood is low. So showering is something that fell somewhat by the wayside. It’s hard to be motivated to do anything and getting out of bed to get to work was a major accomplishment. Let’s just say that personal hygiene has been taking a hit.

Anyway, I did shower today. My legs are freshly shorn and moisturized. My hair is fly-away clean (as only curly hair can be) and I smell fresh. I’m hoping to hit the shower at least every second day as a part of trying to lift the mood. We’ll see how that works.

This week has been somewhat distressing as well because of a co-worker/friend’s circumstances. Anyone who has friended me on Facebook will have seen my status thingie about that. She and her hubby went to Edmonton where he could have heart surgery. He has a congenital heart defect and it needed some work. They spent twice as long in surgery as they planned (11 hours) then, because of bleeding and other complications, he had to go back into surgery the next day. He’s currently in critical condition on life support. Though he’s making small improvements there’s the spectre of him not making it. They’re a young couple with two young children. I’ve been sending Reiki left, right, and centre and hoping for the best. I hate it that there’s virtually nothing else I can do in terms of helping.

This added to the general lowness of my mood and had me in tears on Friday night. I don’t usually cry unless there’s some impetus, like a movie or someone hurting my feelings. Just sitting and being weepy isn’t something I normally do. It’s also not a good thing considering that I’m on anti-depressants. This leads me to think that perhaps my dosage needs to be elevated. However, I can’t do that without seeing a physician and my doctor scarpered (see previous post about that) so I don’t have a doctor right now.

Earlier tonight I was called in to work because the person who was to work the 8-12 shift didn’t show up. I got out of the house and was on the way when I got the call that she’d finally turned up. So instead Bran and I headed off the the drug store (pharmacy/apothecary/chemist’s) for cinnamon, antihistamine and junk for Boy and I. We also got a squirt container of liquid soap for the kitchen. The old soap squirt container we had was a long-ago Christmas present from Boy when he was in elementary school. It never did squirt right and recently wouldn’t squirt at all. Thanks to the antihistamines I’ll have less vertigo related nausea when I’m doing things like ab crunches and such. Gotta love being allergic to your pet.

Speaking of pets…Bran managed to do some grooming of her today (or was it yesterday?) and got a kitten. She’s also lost a little bit of body fat thanks to the food she’s been on the past while (older cat/indoor cat). This means that she can take care of her own “intimate” grooming. Of course she has to stop and do it while I’m walking behind her…on my way to the bathroom…first thing in the morning when my bladder is screaming to be emptied. Yeah, she’s such a cat.

When we were leaving to take me to do the work that I didn’t end up doing tonight, I was confused. Somewhere, thanks to the housework we did yesterday, I lost the entire day. I thought today was Saturday and I wasn’t going to work a 4 hour shift, but an entire 12 hour shift.

Oh, one thing about yesterday. I got a pair of ear buds to replace the ones that I lost the rubber thing to. These are Sony buds for sports. They have soft over-the-ear holders and are sound eliminators. They came with a hard case that makes it more difficult to lose bits. They should last a nice long time. They’re quite comfortable to wear and muffle outside noise nicely. Since I won’t be wearing them for outside exercise they’re be quite useful.

I also figured out a way to go on the jogging outings with my gym partner. You see, because of sciatica I can’t jog. It’s what makes standing still for long periods of time painful (remember how dishes made my back blow out? That’s why). The compression of the disc onto the sciatic nerve is the reason jogging (which would cause further compression) isn’t a good idea. However, I have roller blades. So long as I manage to move forward and not land on my butt, I can go along while he runs. He also has a pair of blades so we could zoom along together. Cool, right?

That’s about it. Now I have to label this entry. It’s going to be a long list. Try and pick out the one thing in the labels that I didn’t mention in the entry.

Today on the Pagan calendar is Lughnasadh (LAMMAS), the first harvest festival of summer. Now is the time that people are picking the summer squashes, and other vegetables are ripe and ready for picking.

It’s also my second favourite Pagan day. Not because it has any special meaning to me per se. Afterall, I don’t like gardening much because dirt under my fingernails drives me nuts and I despise the weeding, knee and back pain from kneeling while weeding, sweating, sun burn and insect bites (had an ant bite me on the tit once, most uncomfortable). I like it because of its name.

You see, I can never remember how to spell Lughnasadh, though Lammas is relatively easy. I don’t remember Lammas (though I do remember llamas, but they’re a horse of a different ilk). No, I remember it as “lugnuts”.

So happy Lugnuts to everyone of Pagan spirituality who reads my blog. Happy August 1st to everyone else.

…should be a weekend off. However, I was stupid enough to agree to be on-call. I got a call on Friday night because one of the men wasn’t in at curfew. The weekend news had him out on pass but the board didn’t. I told her to call the counsellor since he was the one the particular gent had spoken to about it. Then tonight, I got a call just as we pulled up to Future Shop to see about a rice cooker/vegetable steamer and a game for Boy. There was no one to work the graveyard shift because the regular staff was ill and couldn’t come in at midnight. I was lucky. The woman who worked graveyards this weekend agreed to work the shift, but she needed to get some sleep. I filled in the 4 hour shift and she came on at midnight.

This is what happens when there are no casual staff AT ALL!. I am so unimpressed. I shall be talking to the boss on Tuesday about this.

I very much need Bran to get a job. I’ll be in a much better bargaining position when that happens.

Anyway, after I got off work Bran told me that he and Boy had gone to SuperStore after they dropped me off. Apparently that store is open 24 hrs during the holiday time. So we went there and got a vegetable steamer and a rice cooker (separate beasts) and a bunch of LED indoor/outdoor lights. I’m going to have my cheer lights (red and white in the livingroom)! One set, the one going up in the bedroom, change colour from white to blue. All we need now are those 3M hang up things that can be removed easily. I’m so looking forward to having my cheer lights up and running.

I made a wonderful supper. For several years we’d done a vegetarian feast to welcome back the sun on the beginning of its journey to summer. However, since being diagnosed with diabetes, many of the dishes simply can’t be done. So, out went the couscous salad and roasted vegetable pie and in came Bran’s choice. I told him to buy something he wanted to have as an entree centre. It was his choice since he was the one going out and getting it.

He brought home a 17 pound turkey. So that’s what I cooked today, along with butternut squash, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes (for Boy and I). Bran made the gravy (it rocked!). I didn’t do a fancy-schmancy rub like I’ve done in the past, just salt and pepper. I also didn’t stuff the bird. It still took nearly 5 hours to roast. It was a spectacular meal. While I was out reluctantly working, Bran put the bones and stuff into a pot and is now making stock. Some of it is going to be made into a nice curry squash and cauliflower soup.

So now I’m home. I’m somewhat less grumpy than I was a little while ago (while I was pouting at work). Boy is having a large mug of tea (extra-large A&W root beer mug), Bran just turned out the overhead living room lights (I really don’t like them at all, but he has this weird attachment to them which I’m hoping will be broken with the advent of the cheer lights) and I’m contemplating a turkey sandwich.

Joyous Yule to all my friends who celebrate it. Happy really early Monday morning to those who don’t. I truly am a lucky woman.

Ta-Ra

I got up to a phone call. Someone was calling from a blocked phone so Bran wasn’t going to bother answering it. Because it woke me up and no one was answering, I answered it. It was the woman he’s arranging to do a handfasting for. He’s rather lucky that I answered it.

Boy was in the shower in preparation to going over to a friend’s house. I was groggy. We went out in short order to get money out of the bank. You see today was let’s-go-shopping-for-furniture day. Bran and I dumped Boy off at his friend’s house (after a salad at Wendy’s – mine was mandarin chicken, pretty good actually). Then Bran and I headed out to Leon’s to look at stuff to sit on. I was quite surprised to find that the store was huge. Really huge.

We were greeted by a salesman who of course, asked if he could help us and we demurred. However he kept a bit of a distant eye on us as we walked about and sat on virtually every single couch in the display area. Really, we did. There were some lovely ones there with really thick cushions. There were leather couches, faux suede, microfabric, and other fabric sofas in many colours but mostly in shades of earth tones like brown, beige and greens. There were suites with regular chairs, some with double chairs. Given the opportunity and space, we’re going to be getting one of the huge oversize chairs (or two). They all had varying degrees of firmness from the one I couldn’t get out because my feet were lifted to high off the floor when my butt sank down to one that was nearly comparable to a granite slab.

We finally decided on a sectional sofa with a hide-a-bed in one of the sections. It’s a dark moss green with a sort of braided trim in the main colour, and two shades of beige (I think it’s two). It’s a lovely couch. We also got the neatest table for in front of the couch. It has a top that lifts up on hinges to become a higher table surface. Underneath there are a couple of little storage areas where magazines and such can be stored. Chances are that’s where my crosswords will go. The tabletop lifts up and secures to have a surface tall enough to be able to work with my beads. here’s one that’s similar. That’s what the top of the table does (though the table itself is very different.

Then we headed over to Sears and bought the swivel-rocking-recliner that Boy grokked on yesterday. It’s dark brown. We’ll be putting bright coloured throws or something on it to make it less neutral. The same will go for the couch. It’s all lovely furniture but it needs some colour oomph.

With that in mind Bran and I headed to Costco. We figured we’d buy a membership and then shop about there looking for livingroom accessories that would be colourful and really punch up the place. Well, we got the memberships. We shopped around. In fact, we shopped until I very nearly dropped, but we didn’t get any accessories. We got CFR bug lights, a new Philosopher Stone DVD because the one we have is somewhat scratched and the player is all picky about that. We got granola bars, almonds, some “Pasta Shakers”, sausages, mushrooms, crab meat (guess who’s having stuffed mushroom caps), butter, toilet paper, and other things. We managed to get out spending only $200 there. I can see how a person could spend a whole lot of money there. I’m sure we could’ve spent a whole lot more.

We were headed to Jysk (pronounced yisk but I call it yunk – spelled Junk) to get the colourful accessories when we got side tracked to going to Costco. Costco, however, had nothing of what we’d originally went there for. So we’ll be making trip to Junk (remember to read it as yunk) for pillows, throws or whatnot in bright colours.

The sofa and table will be delivered sometime on Thursday. The chair is expected in sometime around August 17. In the nonce, we’ll be putting the stuff we have on Free-Cycle. Neither are in the best of shape, but they’re still serviceable. The recliner is a leather La-Z-Boy. Its problem is that the arms have holes in them. The couch is a sofa-bed. The wires poke through into the seat cushions and have created holes in the fabric. However, the bed is still serviceable and with a cover over the couch it can still be used. Hey, both will be free, so whoever wants and gets them won’t be out any money.

So really, except for the rides in the car, Bran and I have been standing and walking pretty much all afternoon. I’m not counting testing out couches because that’s the up/down action of exercise.

Now we’re home listening to music and paying on our respective computers. Boy is tidying his room. Oh, we saw a bunk bed set that would work in Boy’s room. The bottom bed is a double and we already have a good double mattress. The top is a single bed and we can get a single mattress cheaply enough. That way he’ll have room for having friend’s over as well as having under-the-bed storage space for plastic containers with out-of-season clothes or such like.

That’s about it for now. Oh, I made another bead order last night. It should arrive in a week or two (I went with cheaper shipping this time). I got beads, boxes (for shipping in), a display stand and a few more tools that I want and will use.

Now I’m tired and contemplating laying down. The only problem with that is that I have to work from 8 am to 8 pm tomorrow and a nap would play havoc on my night’s sleep.

Now, remember to get the CD by the Ting Tings. It’s really good.

Ta-Ra

I’ve had it up to my eyebrows with this cold. Dare I say…yes, I dare, I’m sick and tired of this cold.

I drove Bran to school and then headed off to the doctor’s office for my medication review. While not getting raves in the review, it appears that the bupropion is working well enough. She asked me about the cold and recommended that I keep on doing what I’ve been doing and it’ll go away eventually.

After my appointment I came home and sent an email to my prof telling him that i wouldn’t be there. Instead I sat around, read comics, did a few other computer things. Boy got up around 11 or so. Since it’s Samhain today (actually from sunset tonight to sunset tomorrow night) he got the day off school. He’ll be back there tomorrow.

After a while I went to bed to catch up on sleep. Last night was another restless night with me being too stuffed up to breathe or else so dry that my soft palate would stick to the back of my throat. Yes, it is a gross feeling. This nap wasn’t the greatest either, but it was more, much needed sleep.

It turns out that Bran napped in the centre and missed his class. Then he got caught in the centre’s heavy gravitational field that nearly everyone who enters has problems fighting against. I phoned him a little before 4 to make sure that he was safe and sound. He was.

I wasn’t vegetarian tonight. For supper I had roasted chicken, Caesar salad and chapata buns. That’s what Bran and I picked. Neither of us wanted to cook. We also picked up a cold air humidifier. We also got some tetra packs of milk for “Trick or Eat” that happens tonight. University students will be going from door to door soliciting food for the foodbank. Even if no one comes, it’ll go to the university tomorrow with Bran and I and get to the food bank from there. We wanted to make sure that we got something that was nutritious and that will actually be use.

Thus far we’ve had a lot of kids. In fact, while we were gone, Boy gave out treats (cans of root beer) to more children than we’d had in the past six years at the other place. He’s been having fun. On the way to and from the store we saw the littlest trick or treaters out with their parents. A couple of the kids were barely ambulatory. Of course, we all know who the candy is for, and it ain’t the kiddy in the cute cow costume. As Boy has given out treats we’ve heard various aged voices and the most cute was one who could barely talk but was cheerily begging for candy. Thus far all seem thrilled that we give out pop instead of regular treats. Thing is, President’s Choice root beer is nearly as cheap as little candy bars. Whatever’s left over will become float treats for Boy and Bran.

The humidifier is wonderful. It’s positioned right under my table blowing it’s glorious humidified air up at me. For the first time in days I’ve not felt like drowning myself just to get some moisture in my respiratory system.

Right now we’re watching Scary Movie. Thus far it’s confirmed one major thing. It has confirmed to be that teenage boys mainly consist of sperm. It’s also very funny. It’s so politically incorrect, irreverent and rips the back off puns.

That’s about it for today. Nothing much has happened today. I’m sure that Bran has a ritual he’ll want to do in the next few days. This is his new year. Mine will come with Yule.

Ta-Ra